North Carolina State University Athletics
Everette Sands Diary: Bye Week and Central Michigan Analysis
10/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 14, 2011
We didn't have as many big plays on the ground against Central Michigan as we did against Georgia Tech, but we still had 172 yards rushing, averaged a little over four yards per carry, and 2.02 yards after contact. According to our team goals, 2.02 is average, 2.25 is above average, and 2.5 is really good, so we'll need to do a little better if we want to get into that elite status.
Piling up yardage after first contact is more an attitude than technique. I try to stress the principle that if you can't avoid contact, initiate it. Of course, some of that's depending on what style of the back. Curtis Underwood is more likely to run through an arm tackle, while Creecy and Washington are more likely to make a move and avoid contact. There are times where there's nowhere to run, so that's when it's time to initiate the contact and fall forward.
This week, I spent some time down in Florida, in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Daytona Beach taking a look at some high school players. We recruit by area, I have eight counties here in North Carolina from the Durham area to Person county to Wayne county, the lower half of South Carolina, the eastern part of Georgia, and then I have the Florida panhandle all the way from Panama City over to Jacksonville and down to Cocoa Beach. Those trips are important because they help us to build relationships with coaches, so that we'll be sure to know if there's someone out there that could surprise us.
I got back into town at 9 Wednesday night, and we went right into practice Thursday morning. We've started to look at Virginia, but during the bye week the most important thing has been letting the team get their legs back and rested up for the second half of the season.
My son's birthday is the 24th, and we're going to celebrate it this weekend. My brother and his family are coming into town so we're going to go to Tre's game on Saturday, then check out the fair together. My brother has three kids that are all within a year of being the same age as my kids, so it's fun for everybody to get together.
